Improvement in draftsmen s ink-saucers



'UNITED STATES I PATENT OF-FICE',

l l FEBDi-ANDO erwin, `orl WASHINGTON, nisrnror orfcoLUii/IBA-;

IMPROVEMENTIN DRAFQT-siwi-:NsiNK-sAucERs.' f

-Specification forming part f VLetters.PatentNof169,597, dated November 2,71'875; application filed I f Apri17,1s75.`

I To all whomz't may concern:

Be it known that I, FERDINANDO STITH, of

the city and county of Washington, Districtnish, without its bein g removed, a ready means of access to the ink; and toprovide an instrument for expediting the operation of feeding the ink to the bow-pcm7 and of insuring the taking, with facility,'of each fill of ink from the midst of the mass of fluid, whereby to secure freedom from lees, 85o., and to effect the more near uniformity of the quality of each succeeding penful with its next immediate predecessor.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate my invention,rFigure l is a vertical section through the middle of the whole device, and Fig. 2 is a top view of the saucer alone.

In these two figures similar letters refer to like parts.

A isthe body of the saucer, preferably of fine whiteglazed potters ware, or similar suitable material. Al is the bowl or dish of the saucer,V of a circular concave shape, somewhat iat toward the middle portion A2, which constitutes a circular grinding track ring, upon which water being supplied little by little, either from without or by lightly touching the cake to a supply in the well, hereafter described, the ink-cake is to be circuitously rubbed until the whole quantity of water intended to be used shall become of the desired consistency and intensity of blackness, to expe- I dite which operation with certain extremely hard inks it may be preferable that this portion A2 of the dish be free of high polish, or slightly roughened, or left whollyor partially unglazed. Within this track A2 there sinks from the dish a well or reservoir, A3, preferably circular and somewhat acorn-shaped as to its vertical section, and preferably of such size andpartic'ular,proportion as to freely receive the vlinger for cleansing, as necessary, or about three-fourths ofan inch indepth, and the same orless in diameter, diminished, however, toward the bottom. a and al arerespectively the flange and ledge of the saucer, as is common to similar vessels for such and for other uses, except that in the outer face of A the flange a, and extending around it, is a channel, groove, or trench, a2, partly within the embrace of which is placed, tight stretched, a packing-ring, B, either solid or tubular, of rubber or like elastic eXpansible stuff, of such thickness as to protrude' somewhat beyond the general-face of the flange a, so as to impinge against the rim of the saucer-cover when in place. C is a cover of the usual general form, fit, and character of such covers, except that for more ready. access to the inkwell below, for the extraction of its contents, it has centrally through its crown an orifice, o, of about the same diameter as the ink-well. This cover C, when in place upon the saucer A, will pressits rim c continuously upon the intervening packing-ring B, so as to effect there a close joint against dust and air. Upon and within, and dependent from, the top of the cover C, its feed-hole c, and the sidesthereof, is shown a combined feed-hole stopple and pen iiller or feeder, D, turned of wood 'or like stuff, or molded of hard or soft rubber, or papier-mache', or any such suitable stuff, spreading into the shoulders d cl of somewhat greater diameter than the feed-hole c, rising upward into a handle, d1, of len gthfyform, and size, adapted to the hold of the finger and thumb, and extending downward into a billet, d2,of about the size of a small pencil or pen-stock, and of such length that when hanging in the feed-hole o it will not reach into the well A3. This billet d2 has through its length a cleft, e, in which is placed, F, a slip of quill or thin splint of wood or whalebone, or such stuff,

somewhat lancet-shaped, as viewed atwise,

and of such' length that when the combined stopple and filler is in place as a stopper, as shown in Fig. 1, its point f will reach down into the well A3, somewhat short, however, of the bottom thereof. Encircling the billet d?, below the shoulders d d, is placed a thin packing-plate, G, of soft rubber, or such yielding i stuff, of diameter somewhat greater than that n effect-there aclose-joint againstld'ust and" air.

Upon the billet d2 is placed supplementarily a close-tting collar.. d3, ofwood, cork', orru'b'- ber, or either. such stuff, whose prime office is to holdtlieeplate-G olose pressedhome against the under side of the shoulders d d and the sides of the billet d?, made, for. now obvious l reasons, somewhat enlargedtoward its lowerV v end, compressed upon the stem of the filler F so as to keep it safe and rm in the cleft e, and

true-in its direetion to the center of the well A3, the reach-down thereinto 'being adjusted at Will by sliding the stem up or down in the cleft e. This collar d3 is tapered considerably fors. more"readyinsertion; intoV thev hole,

whiehitslupper portion more nearly llslasfa .topple whereby to serve seeondarily the no.,- lessgimportantfunction of holdingy the shoul-l ders d d more equably placed, and more aeeuf ratelyveoveringthe hole,` andiof lguiding and keeping the th erefroln-dependent filler-point f to the center of the Well A3.

Iy claim as my invention- 1. The india-ink saucer, having a central Wellzeneirel'ed.. by au inkgrinding track, substantially as set forth.

2. Theombnaton of the ink-saueenhavin gy a eentral'well, the removable cover having an orifice in its crown above said Well, and a stopple fitting said orifice, and provided with -a pen-feeder4v extending down. into thewell, 'substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

F. STITH.

Witnesses; e-

. H., H. YOUNG',I

BALTISDEYLQNG. 

